Anaconda is the name of the Fedora installer. This section outlines issues related to Anaconda and installing Fedora 11.

Installation in text mode

Graphical installation remains the recommended method for installing Fedora. If you are installing Fedora on a system that lacks a graphical display, consider performing the installation over a VNC connection. If your system has a graphical display, but graphical installation fails, try booting with the xdriver=vesa option (see Appendix A. Boot Options in the Fedora 11 Installation Guide for details)

The text-mode installation option in Fedora 11 is significantly more streamlined than it was in earlier versions. Text-mode installation now omits the more complicated steps that were previously part of the process, and provides users with an uncluttered and straightforward experience.

These steps are now automated in text mode:

Package selection: Anaconda now automatically selects packages only from the base and core groups. These packages are sufficient to ensure that the system is operational at the end of the installation process, ready to install updates and new packages.

Advanced partitioning: Anaconda still presents users with the initial screen from previous versions that allows them to specify where anaconda should install Fedora on their systems. Users can choose to use a whole drive, to remove existing Linux partitions, or to use the free space on the drive. However, anaconda now automatically sets the layout of the partitions and does not ask users to add or delete partitions or file systems from this basic layout. Users who require customised layouts at installation time should perform a graphical installation over a VNC connection or a kickstart installation. More advanced options yet, such as LVM, encrypted filesystems, and resizable filesystems continue to be available only in graphical mode and kickstart.

Kickstart installations in text mode

Text-mode installations using kickstart are carried out in the same way that they were in previous versions. However, because package selection, advanced partitioning, and bootloader configuration are now automated in text mode, anaconda cannot prompt users for information that it requires during these steps. Users must ensure that the kickstart file includes the packaging, partitioning, and bootloader configurations. If any of this information is missing, anaconda will exit with an error message.

Upgrade Notes

Upgrading from Fedora 9 directly to Fedora 11 using yum is not possible, you must upgrade to Fedora 10 first, then upgrade to Fedora 11. See http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/YumUpgradeFaq for more information. You can also use preupgrade to upgrade directly to Fedora 11 using Anaconda, minimizing the system downtime by downloading the packages in advance.

Some modified configuration files will be replaced by their original versions during the upgrade. Your modified versions of these configuration files will be saved as *.rpmsave files in that case.